G.I. Janne

April 28th, 2009

Four storylines today.

1. Coach Todd Reirden said Janne Pesonen skated before practice today. This is not necessarily gigantic news, since it's an upper body injury, not a lower body injury, that's kept him out of the lineup, but it's another step on the road to recovery.

2. Dan Bylsma had the "interim" removed from his job title as he signed a multi-year extension in Pittsburgh. Bylsma went 18-3-4 to close the regular season then beat the team's biggest rival in the first round of the playoffs. That's big-time stuff. If that doesn't get you hired, what the heck would?

3. In the comments, Ali pointed out the following sentence from the Harrisburg Patriot-News' Web site from today. "For tactical reasons, (Hershey coach Bob) Woods requested that his line and defensive pair combinations remain off the record until after Game 1."

I've never heard of this in hockey before. It happens in college football all the time. NCAA coaches aren't required to open practices to the media, so in return for that courtesy, they often ask reporters not to disclose certain things they see there. Fair enough. But AHL teams are required by the league to open their practices to the media, so this doesn't fly that well.

This move puts the reporters who cover the Bears in a terrible spot. If you reveal what you see in practice, you're going to tick off the coach, a man who has the power to make it difficult to do your job on a day-to-day basis. If you don't reveal what you see in practice, you're withholding information from your readers, which, generally speaking, is no way to do business. Basically, it's a ridiculous request.

4. Welcome Austin, Abbotsford and Glens Falls to the AHL next season. Austin has a year to get a franchise. This means, unless something unforeseen happens (or unless my math is wrong) the AHL will have reached the mythical 30-30 point, one affiliate for each NHL team. That's a significant milestone. I wonder if a six-division format, like the NHL has, is forthcoming.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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